JALLĀ, PAṆḌIT (d. 1844), a Brāhmaṇ priest of Jammū, who, assigned tutor to Hīrā Siṅgh Ḍogrā when he was a small boy, remained his lifelong companion and became his adviser and deputy as he assumed the office of prime minister of the Sikh kingdom in September 1843. Jallā completely dominated over the young minister and the power he enjoyed made him very arrogant. He began to treat the Sikh nobility in an overbearing manner. A man of peevish disposition, the upstart Jallā soon came to be disliked by everyone. To quote in English translation a doggerel which became current, "There is God above and Jallā below; and may He smack Jallā on the head with a shoe." Matters came to a crisis when Jallā began confiscating the jāgīrs of the Sikh sardārs and criticizing openly Mahārāṇī Jind Kaur. Jallā was killed by the excited Sikh soldiery led by Jawāhar Siṅgh, the Mahārāṇī's brother, on 21 December 1844, while attempting to flee Lahore along with his patron Rājā Hīrā Siṅgh.